pigwidgeon means A small or petty person, creature or object, especially a fairy, dwarf, imp, or elf. It carries an Arena rating of 1536, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pigwidgeon ranks #295 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,426 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,761 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #4,000 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words.
Why “pigwidgeon” is a great word
A small or insignificant person or creature, often a fairy or dwarf, or a contemptible or stupid individual. Its origin is unknown, first attested in the late 16th century. Unlike 'gnome,' a specific bearded earth-dweller of rooted folklore, or 'dwarf,' a figure of mythic gravity and stature, a pigwidgeon is a puff of contempt, stripped of all dignity. It is the spiteful sprite pinching from the shadows, the officious clerk fussing over ledgers, the whole of a small and bitter soul compressed into a form barely there—smallness not as wonder, but as irrelevance, folding into itself like a burnt-out ember.
noun
- A small or petty person, creature or object, especially a fairy, dwarf, imp, or elf.
- A contemptible or stupid person or creature.e.g.“PIGWIGGIN was this Faery Knight, One wondrous gracious in the sight Of fair Queene Mab ...” — 1627, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for William Lee, […], →OCLC:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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